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Still at 25% with no new donations in the past few hours. I'm grateful for the donations so far, but we need to raise about $4,000.00 more over the next week, and we can do it. Thank you so much for your support so far these past two days - it has been appreciated more than you can imagine. I know times are tough, and making any kind of contribution to a website makes you think twice before handing over the check or credit card. But whatever you can do in order to keep Newstalgia from extinction and the archive from destruction, will be more than appreciated. You can do it and we can make this happen.

A live concert originally broadcast by The Voice Of America overseas (which we never got to hear over here in the U.S.) of the 1966 Newport Jazz Festival. This set features the immortal Thelonious Monk Quartet in a short, but legendary concert performance.

Here is the rundown on what you'll be hearing:

Thelonious Monk Quartet

Newport Jazz Festival
Newport, RI
July 2, 1966

1. Evidence (11:32)
2. Light Blue (10:49)
3. Japanese Folk Song [Kojo No Tsuki] (10:08)

Lineup:
Thelonius Monk - Piano
Charlie Rouse - Tenor Sax
Larry Gales - Bass
Ben Riley - Drums

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

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(Julius Watkins and friend - taking it out from behind the horn section)

The French Horn is Jazz isn't a common instrument in any situation. It was used very rarely and usually with bands like Claude Thornhill, Boyd Raeburn and Stan Kenton. Until Julius Watkins took a whack at it, the French Horn was never considered a solo instrument. And probably with good reason - it's a difficult instrument to play. But in the 1950s, Watkins along with Charlie Rouse on Tenor sax, founded a group called Les Modes or later Les Jazz Modes which incorporated the French horn, putting it front and center in a solo capacity for the first time and also adding a wordless vocal chorus into the mix. The result was pretty astonishing for the time, but was not universally copied. Watkins had the corner on solo French Horns. The band was also augmented by Gildo Mahones on Piano, Martin Rivera on bass, Ron Jefferson on drums, Chino Pozo on bongos and the wordless Soprano is Eileen Gilbert.

In 1956 Dawn Records recorded a few albums with them and this cut, Mood In Scarlet is the title track off that album. Watkins and Rouse recorded for a number of labels throughout their careers, maintaining a small but devoted following for what is some nice and adventuresome music.